A chuckle escaped him, but it got caught in his throat when he noticed all the Basilisk gifts on pretty much every available surface around the bedroom.
“Well, this is… certainly something,” he murmured, looking both touched and… overwhelmed.
“Yeah, they kept showing up. Each time Evira and me stepped outside, there were more, day after day. I guess even though the place is warded and also concealed with Velra’s illusion, their vibrational resonance thingies being… in you… must’ve made it possible for them to pass through it all or something.”
“Something like that, yes.”
“It’s a lot, huh?” I asked, stroking his cheek.
There was a faraway look in his eyes as he said, “They’re calling me.”
I frowned. “Calling you?”
“To serve. To be their champion.”
“Like, their sovereign? To take power?”
He eased back a little and scrubbed his hand over his face.
Then he did that super concentrating tensing thing that meant he was searching out his immediate surroundings with his animal Basilisk senses.
Moments later, his brow furrowed as he looked back at me. “Where is Evira?”
“She… had business in the Dracoryn Realm.”
His gaze was darting all over the place then. Clearly the deeper meaning to those gifts that Evira and me hadn’t clocked because it was obviously deep Basilisk stuff and so much of their customs and things were still unknown, had freaked him out.
“Dracoryn Realm,” he murmured, as he caught sight of the dahlia on the nightstand. “For what purpose? Familial? An issue with Torvek?”
“It’s… uh—”
“Incredible!” he exclaimed as he realized what the dahlia truly was. He eyed me over his shoulder as he ran his fingers gently over it. “This is truly wondrous.”
“A get-well gift,” I said, grinning at his reaction.
“It’s so beautifully thoughtful. Thank you. I adore it.”
He went to reach out to me, but stilled when he caught sight of the amber gemstone.
With a sudden burst of his speed that startled me, he snatched it up and turned back, holding it between us.
Emotion clogged his throat as he asked me, all choked up, “How?”
Ah, shit.
“Zayn, is Winter… has he been—”
“No. I’m so sorry, that’s not it,” I interjected quickly, getting where his mind had gone. “He’s still… with that psychopath.” I swallowed. “Still in Sanctus.”
He grimaced and stared down at the gemstone. “Yet, he was able to forge this and… pass it along to you and Evira?”
I’d hoped I could have given him more time to acclimate before getting into that.
“How so?” he pressed.
I took his free hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’ve been in yourself-immobilizationfor several days. And in that time, there was… an incident.”
Vax hadn’t hada moment of space since he’d gotten out of the shower.
